congress. the nar ra tors have it pretty good. it's the audience who's having this crisis. pundits may have it right. there's a political win for the republicans. but the policy framework is wrong. it's misleading. it is built on a giant bubble. and as we saw in the housing and stock market just five years ago, all bubbles eventually burst. thank you, that does it for "the cycle." martin, it's all yours. >> ari, i was going to embrace you with a very warm welcome but you've stolen 15 seconds of my time. so this is not the way to begin. have a great afternoon. aisle see you tomorrow. >> i'm new here. >> good afternoon. wednesday, april 3rd. the president has just touched down in a state unafraid of the power of the nra. a rocky mountain high that many hope will spread across the country. >> president obama heads to denver, colorado. >> a state with a long tradition

of gun rights that recently expanded background checks. >> why is the president right now and next week as well pushing gun control? i mean, take a look at a fox news poll from october of 2012. >> shame on us if we've forgotten. >> how much were you and the task force members paid for this work? >> we're not going to provide you with a line by line -- >> why wouldn't you do that? >> because it's none of your business. >> i haven't forgotten those kids. >> i don't see guns right there. it has been -- >> that was before sandy hook. >> the majority of those who died today were children. beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. >> in the wake of sandy hook, suddenly a lot of people were for things that they're not for as strongly today given the time. >> shame on us if we've forgotten. the president has just

arrived in denver, trying to regain some momentum for federal gun control measures in a state that's moving forward on its own. yes, a state with a strong gun tradition, but one that's also expanded background checks to all private sales and placed limits on high capacity magazines. just moments from now, the president will tour the denver police academy before speaking there later in this hour. today's event is just a few miles from the aurora movie theater where 12 people were killed and 58 wounded in a mass shooting last july. on monday, the president will take his message to connecticut, where newtown families are invited to join him and where a sweeping package of gun reforms are on track to pass the state's general assembly this afternoon. all this as the president faces criticism for not being involved enough on the issue. really?

is that right? >> i know there's not a parent in america who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that i do. these tragedies must end. and i'm not going to be able to do it by myself. these are a few of the 23 executive actions that i'm announcing today. the only way that we're going to be able to do everything that needs to be done is with the cooperation of congress. the weapons of war have no place on our streets. gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. >> okay. we actually don't have enough time to play clips from all of the president's gun-related events since newtown, but you get the idea. while some in the gop and the nra would have you believe he's out in the wilderness on the issue, in fact, it's quite the opposite. according to a new morning joe marist poll, 6 in 10 americans

believe laws covering gun sales should be stricter. background checks, 87% support expanding them for private gun sales and sales at gun shows. 59% favor a ban on the sale of assault weapons. despite all of that, despite the horrors of tucson, of aurora, of newtown, despite the daily deadly toll on the streets of chicago, baltimore, milwaukee, we are already hearing that gun legislation will be pushed back another week in the senate with background checks still a stumbling block. and the nra is lobbying hard to change anti-trafficking legislation in order to gut the provision. congratulations to the nra. nbc's kristen welker is traveling with the president, and she joins us now from denver. kristen, good afternoon. the president has made it plain that however effective the nra

may be in silencing members of congress and preventing any meaningful legislation on guns, he will not be silenced and he will continue to campaign on behalf of the victims of gun violence both in colorado as in today, and indeed around the country. that's right, isn't it? >> reporter: i think that's absolutely right, martin. in fact, on monday, president obama will be traveling to connecticut where, as you mentioned, today they are poised to pass some of the stiffest gun laws in the nation. so there are sort of two parts to this strategy. president obama going out, getting outside of the d.c. bubble, traveling to different states to make his case. but specifically targeting these states that have recently enacted or introduced different laws like colorado. as you know, colorado is a state that has been ravaged by gun violence. and in recent weeks has also passed stiffer laws including universal background checks and limits to high capacity magazines. those are some of the changes that president obama would like

to see nationwide. as you point out, those pieces of legislation have really hit roadblocks in the senate. in part, because there are a number of republicans who are opposed, but also democrats who live in red leaning states who are hesitant to vote for some of these stiffer measures. so president obama pointing out that in the states, it's quite a different story. there are a number of states that have passed stiffer laws in recent weeks. if you look at the polls, there's a lot of support still for some of these stiffer laws. 87% of people support universal background checks. when this conversation first got started in the days after newtown, it appeared as though universal background checks would certainly make its way through congress. but now that doesn't seem to be so certain. so i think when you hear president obama speak this afternoon and again on monday, you will hear a strong focus on universal background checks. >> okay. >> reporter: he believes that is something still worth fighting for. >> kristen, while i've got you here as the expert on all things

presidential i've got to ask you about another bit of news. we're learning the president is returning part of his salary to help those impacted by the sequester spending cuts. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: that's right. president obama will be giving 5% of his salary back to the treasury every month. retroactive to march 1st. so i'm hearing that he's going to cut the first check this month. the white house saying that this is to show solidarity with the workers who will be furloughed, and that 5% represents the amount that will be cut from nondefense spending to the federal government. so the president trying to show solidarity with workers who will also experience cuts to their salaries. again, that will be retroactive to march 1st. martin? >> kristen welker in denver. thanks so much, kristen. i want to bring in our panel now with us from denver. syndicated columnist david serota, in washington clarence page, great columnist from the

"chicago tribune." david, if i can start with you, can you explain to your audience why colorado can introduce additional gun safety legislation, why connecticut can ban the sale of magazines that carry more than ten bullets and introduce background checks on all firearm sales, but the house and the senate can only postpone discussion of legislation while the nra picks off senators and congressmen by the day? >> it's a very good question. and i think that the president is going to be making the point that if colorado, a state in the intermountain west, a pro-gun area, can pass the legislation that it passed, then congress should be able to pass the same kind of legislation. at one level he's right. at another level he's got a political problem because the congress has in the house a situation of gerrymandering where many republicans, because they've redrawn the lines, many republicans fear more a primary challenge, a pro-gun nra-backed primary challenge, then they do a democratic general election challenge. >> so, david, what you're saying

is that for those individual congressmen, when the vice president says, think of newtown, those congressmen say, no, i'm thinking of my own political future in my own constituency. i am not interested in newtown. >> well, i think that's basically right. i think a lot of members of congress, republicans, are thinking about re-election and they don't want to face an nra-backed pro-gun primary challenge in a gerrymandered district where the winner of the primary is the winner of essentially the general election. in the senate you've got a filibuster problem where literally 11% of the population of the united states has enough senate representation to stop what the other 89% of americans want. that's literally the math of the u.s. senate. so you can have a few red state senators who are essentially owned by the nra stop any legislation, even universal background checks, which 90% of americans support. >> absolutely astonishing. clarence, the pressure against gun reform is incredibly intense, as you know.

politico reports a rand paul backed group is now attacking fellow republicans for being too weak on gun rights, including majority leader eric cantor. so no matter what the public wants, they can't give one iota or it would be political suicide just to david sirota's point. >> yeah. david is right. and the problem here for the president and for those who want a sane gun policy, in my view, is that we're in -- we're facing an off year election now, which is electorate tends to be more conservative. you've also got states like colorado, which are actually purple states. they can go either way. they went for obama this time again with a lot of hard work on his part. but part of the reason why he's making this tour around these red leaning states is to try to stiffen the spine of those who

are sympathetic to the cause of background checks, which about 80% of the public now looks like are. a majority of republicans are. >> 90%. >> but the problem is that, yeah, the problem is that you've got a lot more energy on the paranoid side, the side that says, well, registration leads to -- >> confiscation. >> that still gets people off the sofa and out to the polling booths. you've got to get people on the other side out. >> david, the argument from opponents is that background checks don't work because criminals won't use them. but colorado governor john hickenlooper refuted that earlier today on the daily rundown. take a listen, david. >> we went back and checked the statistics, 38 people applied to get -- or were trying to buy a gun who were either convicted or accused of homicides. 600 burglars.

1,300 felonious assaults. i mean, this thing works. >> there you go, david. it does work, doesn't it? >> he's absolutely right. i mean, it's not going to stop everything. unfortunately what the republicans tend to do is tend to say the perfect is the enemy of the good. if it doesn't stop everything, then it's not worth doing. i think most americans as the polls show see that that's not true. that things are worth doing like universal background checks. and i think, look, there was a study that nbc news had done a couple week ago. an inconvenient truth for the nra. it found that in states that have more gun control legislation there is less gun violence. that is just a fact. and it's an inconvenient fact to the nra, but it's a fact that i think the president is trying to use events like today here in colorado to remind the public that these laws in aggregate can have a real lasting effect. >> indeed. clarence, the esteemable louie gomert of texas has said we shouldn't limit high capacity clips because it might lead to

bestiality. take a listen, clarence. >> why would you draw the line at ten? what's wrong with nine? or eleven? and the problem is once you draw that limit, it's kind of like marriage. when you say it's not a man and a woman anymore, then why not have three men and one woman or four women and one man or why not, you know, somebody has a love for an animal. >> that was not an actor. that was louie gohmert. that is the slippery slope. you can't have 30 rounds, you may end up legalizing sex with horses. >> we could spend all evening trying to untangle the logic behind that statement. but what louie gohmert ignores is the realities of what happened like the gifford shooting. the massacre in arizona where the gunman was finally tackled, brought to the ground when he stopped to change magazines. he was carrying about 17 rounds in each clip.

that's how many people got shot. it was remarkable -- a remarkable example of how smaller clips can lead to fewer casualties. that gets ignored by the side that doesn't want smaller magazine clips. why do they want larger clips? for the convenience of sportsmen. i think that's a small price to pay for the big, heavy cost that those big clips take. >> clarence page and david sorito, gentlemen, thank you so much. next, a comeback sealed with a kiss. stay with us. >> i thank you, i guess, to my fiancee right here behind me for her long suffering as she put up with me being on the road for more than just a few months. >> he told me he was having an affair with this woman. and it was incredibly painful for me. [ male announcer ] if she keeps serving up sneezes...

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what we saw last night in the republican nomination was people give the verdict of, yes, we appreciate, you know, where you come from. we don't approve of everything you've done in life but we're going to give you a shot at carrying the republican nomination and the conservative ideas forward into the general election. i feel it's a blessing and i'm thankful for it. >> yes, it is an enormous blessing for republicans that mark sanford is back in the game, so to speak. now more than ever, conservatives need a man of principle who will stick up for small government and strict spending limits. and who better to stand up for conservative values than the man who used taxpayer funds to visit his mistress in argentina? as one of sanford's fellow republicans said at the time of this revelation, leaving aside his personal life, when you use taxpayer dollars, that's what

republicans are all about. spending tax dollars wisely. this was not spending tax dollars wisely. that hasn't stopped mr. sanford from reselling himself as the man to cut spending in washington. we're joined now by republican strategist hogan giddley and msnbc contributor professor james peterson, director of african studies at lehigh university. i'd like to share with you mr. sanford's victory speech. >> do you believe a problem of debt can be solved with yet more debt? >> no! >> okay. do you believe that we need to get our financial house in order in washington, d.c.? >> yes. >> professor, what is more counterfeit and phony about mark sanford? his commitment to traditional marriage or his commitment to conservative princprinciples? which of those. >> i'm probably not the person to answer that question.

i'm curious as to how many people were actually in that room. sounds like a pretty small crowd here. >> this is a man who had to pay back over $70,000 for misusing public funds. so i have to ask you the question again. which part of this man's political armory is more count fit? his commitment to monogamy or his commitment to small government? >> based on the fact that you just stated, obviously it's his commitment to small government. i would also argue that even the prince p principles of that commitment should be called into question at this particular time in this nation's economy. i'm not interested, though, martin, in assessing or evaluating former governor sanford's personal life. it only makes sense for me to talk about it in the context of the ways in which he misappropriated funds to engage in that particular type of conduct. >> right. okay. hogan, you are a conservative republican and you're proud to be one as you should be. >> i am. >> but can you explain how a self-respecting conservative, someone who believes all that

rhetoric about government spending, how can -- how can you respect a candidate who's proven to be such a hypocrite when it comes to those very principles? >> well, i don't, quite frankly. this is a very difficult position for republicans. as you mentioned before, this is not about his -- this is not about his record as a father, record as a husband. it's about his record as governor. and he's been issued the largest ethics fine in the history of the state for misusing taxpayer dollars to go see his mistress. in addition, he left the state in a constitutional crisis for four days by not telling anyone where he went. which means if we'd had a hurricane, a terrorist attack on our ports, we didn't have a governor in place to handle those things. this is all fair game for cohort bush and she'll use it effectively if he's smart. in addition, it puts the party of morality in a big bind. how can you effectively support a person like mark sanford who has personal baggage. you say because of his fiscal

sanity. clearly he's not fiscally sane either with the misuse of taxpayer dollars. if we're not careful we could absolutely lose this seat. bush is well liked, well known and well respected in charleston. >> to your point, professor, it's not as if the republicans' problems end with mark sanford. we saw a new poll today testing the party's public image. it shows that 19% of voters approve of the job republican lawmakers are doing. whereas 71% disapprove. now, that, i should say, is twice as big as the net positive rating for democrats. but i guess that's why the pollster says the gop brand is, and i'm quoting the pollster, essentially in the toilet these days. >> it is. i mean, there is obviously a disconnect between the republican party and their own constituents and a disconnect between the republican party and the american populous more broadly speaking. this is on a range of issues. it's not just about the hypocrisy we see sometimes not just with republicans, but with

democrats as well, morality, value kind of politics. for the republicans it's about worried about spending and draconian cuts when really we should be trying to raise revenue through increasing taxes and we should be building our infrastructure. it's about them on social issues with respect to women, with respect to reproductive rights, with respect to marriage equality. there's a whole host of issues where they're just disconnected from the american people. this poll just simply reflects that. >> hogan, do you agree with that analysis? >> let's be clear. we can only be hypocrite cal which we have been on the republican side when you actually take a stance on some of these social issues which democrats don't do. yes, we're hypocriteal. >> not true. >> we do fail in those ways. it doesn't mean we should strive for perfection. >> hogan, what do you mean democrats don't do? we just had the former secretary of state make a stand on gay marriage. we've had the issue of -- >> marriage equality. >> here's my point. we have a branding problem in many ways. dr. peterson's right about that. because when you have a candidate for president who talks about 40% and talks about two cadillacs and you have someone talking about

illegitimate rape and just the other day had someone use the term wetbacks in an interview, you've got serious problems. >> wow. >> the republicans need to rebrand, they need to rethink what they're doing. they can win on message points. they really can. but we have to get out there and sell that conservative governance and why it's better and not use incendiary language that turns people off. let's bring some people in for heaven's sakes. >> hogan gidley speaking absolute sense to the gop and professor james peterson, thank you both. >> scary you said that. >> it's true, though. coming up, it's spring and love is in the air. stay with us. >> vice president biden and i have worked together on so many important issues. i know what a personal victory it was for him to see the violence against women act reauthorized. >> there's no woman like hillary clinton. [ applause ] hillary clinton. that's a fact. ♪ fall in love, why shouldn't we fall in love ♪

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from the extinction of man kind and a gin and tonic to a walk on the appalachian trail. here are today's top lines. let's play the feud. >> the extinction of man has already started. pass the gin and tonic. >> there's no woman like hillary clinton. >> vice president biden and i have worked together on so many important issues. >> that's a fact. >> i used to cringe when somebody would say, okay, i want to thank my god. >> jesus. he has risen. and he is kicking ass. "the bible 2." bible harder. >> while got may be a good of second chances, voters are sometimes a little less forgivi forgiving. >> i've been unfaithful to my wife. >> to my fiancee. >> i developed a relationship with a dear, dear friend from argentina.

>> why did you choose to put yourself through this and your kids as well? >> you have a ping-pong match in your gut for a couple weeks there. >> two different gay marriage cases. >> stephen colbert is very popular. >> which they will not rule on until june. wedding season. >> at the end of the day he's not on the ticket. >> why is he going to connecticut to talk about guns? >> why is the president going to these states when what he wants has already happened? >> it perhaps to distract people? >> how much were you and the task force members paid? >> it's none of your business. have you read the 252 page report? >> if there's any page you want to refer to i'm happy to go straight to it. you're the only person involved with that organization who's come here and i really appreciate you doing that. okay. i think i just blew up the whole schedule. >> you said last night that i, sean hannity, that i'm hateful. >> i said that i thought you were being mean spirited. >> what's the difference? >> a phony feud. they point to me and limbaugh. >> there is a feud. >> can i finish my sentence? >> no. i don't care what he says. he can say whatever he wants. look, i'll give you your time.

i'm not fighting with anybody. don't you understand? >> why did you use the word thump? >> there are bible thumpers. i'm not mad at you. >> pass the gin and tonic. >> enough of mr. o'reilly's feud. let's get right to our panel. jonathan capehart opinion writer for the "washington post" and julian epstein a democratic strategist. victoria defrances coe soto a contributor to msnbc and nbc latino. john, if i can start with you from north carolina to virginia to arkansas republican officials are taking up the cause of voter fraud and trying to pass voter id legislation. clearly, someone is not reading reince priebus's gop autopsy report. >> no. it's sort of mind boggling that we've just gone through this presidential election where there was basically no voter fraud at all. and they're still trying to do these voter id laws.

maybe they think that by doing this, they can slow the role of people who want to register who they feel will probably vote democratic. but whatever their reasons, it's undemocratic and it's un-american to prevent people or make it more difficult for people to exercise a franchise. >> john, they were exposed the last election. they've just been exposed for what they tried to do. >> right. and they are shameless. >> they're saying in our autopsy we shouldn't be doing this. lo and behold, in states, here it is. >> right. that shows the disconnect between sort of the national party and what's happening on the ground. they talk about that in the autopsy about how there's, you know, on the local level, the state and local level, republicans are doing fine. electing governors and mayors. and they have all these, you know, state legislatures. but on the federal level they just can't quite seem to make it to the white house. and here you have this disconnect between the

republican party national leadership saying, hey, we've got to change. we've got to stop doing these things. yet the message hasn't trickled down yet to folks at the local level who are still trying to employ the same tricks and games to prevent people from voting. >> absolutely. julian, let me play you a clip of one of the men north carolina legislators have invited to testify on voter id laws. he's georgia's secretary of state, and he favors these law. take a listen to what he says. >> this whole issue, i think, with dealing about, with the federal government and universal registration and same day registration and all these different buzz words really gets down to the individual freedoms of people in our state and americans in general. >> is that not right, julian? same day registration undermines individual freedoms. he's right. >> yeah. i was very actually involved in the law. he's about as informed on the constitutional issues as our friends from the nra are on second amendment issues. the fact of the matter is the

federal government in most of these cases have set the rules for federal elections. the only kind they've come in on the voter id laws is when like in texas there's been a good case that they would have a discriminatory effect. the point he was making here has absolutely no bearing on either the federal voter registration laws or on voter id. with respect to what jonathan said, we're talking about three -- the electorate becoming 3% browner or blacker in the 2012 cycle. it's going to be 3% browner or blacker in the 2016 cycle. the republicans can choose to either try to compete for those votes or suppress those votes. and clearly, you know, we're talking about big numbers here. we're talking about 11% of all voters that don't have voter ids right now. we're talking about a much higher percentage of the voters -- of potential voters who aren't registered to vote. remember, only -- as many as 4 in 10 americans did not vote in the 2012 election. >> right. >> we're talking about more than 11% of that category. but to jonathan's point and to your question, i think this is

the key thing. and to priebus's plan with respect to outreach. the republicans are trying to do this much earlier this time. in the last election as you remember they got tripped up with what happened in pennsylvania. they're trying to get all of this stuff out of the way very early. they're trying to do it in north carolina and virginia and elsewhere because they know it is totally contrary to this point that has been repeatedly made that they've got to be an expanding tent when they're a shrinking tent. this is exactly the wrong message to be sending to those demographics they're trying to attract. >> victoria, the atlanta journal constitution looked into the law's effect in georgia. it found no evidence of voter fraud. but it also found that minority turnout was up. isn't there a trend of these voter id laws backfiring, literally, on republicans? >> well, the argument here is that there is a slight silver lining to these attempts that's

suppressing vote. for example, here in texas after we saw this push for the voter id laws, we saw folks lining up for hours to register to vote. and later to turn up. but the problem here is with the intent of these voter id laws. and it's really quite striking. the united states is the greatest democracy in the world. yet comparatively speaking, when we look at our peer countries, we have some of the most restrictive registration policies, voting policies. many countries in the world, mexico to our south, make it a holiday. you can vote on saturday. you don't have to work. why is it in the united states we're actually trying to turn the clock back. we're trying to make it more and more restrictive. we're adding on more barriers. it's not just about photo ids. it's about making sure it's a current id. that your name matches exactly. that it's a current address. something that sounds very simple but for many young folks or poor folks that may move around a lot, that is a huge

barrier. what we see is just the ticking of these voter suppression tactics. >> you're right. victoria, if i might, switching topics for a moment, virginia's attorney general who's running for governor has asked a state court not to strike down his state's anti-sodomy law. which is ken cuccinelli doing this, victoria? >> we see a turn toward social issues here. it's a very, very tight race in virginia with terry mcaulliffe. given the demographics we were talking about earlier, black voters, latino voters, are -- in order to -- we're seeing a return to the social issues such as abortion in many states. here we see the laws in virginia trying to mobilize the evangelical -- the evangelical base in that state. >> jonathan cape heart, julian epstein and victoria defrancesco

soto, thank you all so much. next, north korea takes another step toward a confrontation that no one in the world wants. stay with us. >> they've got to be a responsible member of the world community. and you don't achieve that responsibility and peace and prosperity by making nuclear threats. and taking very provocative actions. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option:

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for more information including cost support options, (announcer) at scottrade, our cexactly how they want.t with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine. as tensions with north korea escalate by the day the defense department announced late today they will send an anti-ballistic missile system to the u.s. military base in guam. an effort to counter the continued threats of a north korean strike. the move comes the same day that the north made the decision to stop south koreans from crossing the border to work at the cason

industrial complex, the only significant symbol of cooperation between these two nations. more than 120 factories operate within the zone, employeeing more than 50,000 north koreans and several hundred managers from the south. secretary of state john kerry has announced he'll be traveling to seoul next week and warned north korea that the united states will not stand idle in the face of provocation. >> we will continue to do what is necessary to defend our nation and the region together with our allies, but our preference is not to brandish threats at each other. it is to get to the table and negotiate a peaceful resolution. >> joining us now is michael o hanlon, who is director of research and a senior foreign policy fellow at the brookings institution. mike, when you add today's decision on the cason complex to north korea's decision to nullify the 1953 korean war

armistice last month to reactivate a previously moth balled nuclear power plant, after conducting a third nuclear weapons test, what do you think kim jong-un is planning? >> that's a great question, martin. my first guess is that he doesn't know. my first guess is he's looking for ways to provoke, to spend a message that he wants to announce his arrival on the world stage as if there were any doubt, as an equally strong willed and independent ruler just as his father and grandfather were. that he's not interested in economic reform, or he would not have interfered with the cason complex as you mentioned earlier. that he's perhaps trying to extort more of a higher price out of us for any nuclear weapons concessions. otherwise why would he tell us about his plans to restart a nuclear reactor. so, you know, it sounds like more of the same, just at a higher level of intensity. and there'd be a part of me that would say, therefore, don't worry too much. and i don't worry that much.

but what if he combines all this with what happened in 2010 when they sank a south korean ship in cold blood, killed 46 south korean sailors, when they then shelled a small fishing island and killed four more south koreans? that kind of action on top of all this with a new south korean president who's made it clear she's not going to stand by dociley if those kinds of losses of life occur again, that's what i worry about. >> this anti-ballistic missile system in guam, that is serious. >> martin, you mentioned a lot of things that i do take very seriously. that one i'm not as worried about. because as you know, guam is several thousand mimles away. it is our territory. this is an anti-ballistic missile defensive system. therefore, this is such a modest thing being done so far away that i see it as the united states essentially making the minimally reasonable and

responsive kind of action as opposed to trying to escalate further. the bomber overflights last week i think were significantly more firm or even provocative than this kind of action. i like this action. to me, it says to the north koreans, we're not going to get intimidated, but we also are looking for a way to ratchet this down. >> you slightly anticipated me. this is a dangerous business. because kim jong-un who never served in the military may be trying to impress party elders as you say. but he's also dealing with a newly appointed president park of south korea. are you concerned that she may feel obligated to react to what north korea is doing? >> well, i'm mostly worried if either they do start making a lot more nuclear material, in which case president park and president obama are going to have to face some very tough choices about how large of a north korea nuclear arsenal are we comfortable with, knowing they might sell nuclear materials abroad, or if there's a north korean military action

above and beyond shutting down hotlines or closing economic cooperation zones. but an actual attack that results in actual loss of life. those are the things that i think provoke some pretty serious possibilities. but most of what's happened the last few weeks is sort of that. so i'm still hopeful that we can walk this thing back. >> let's hope so. mike o'hanlon, thank you, sir. next, a college coach goes too far. but are his actions indicative of a morally corrupt system? stay with us. watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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rutgers university has fired its abusive men's basketball coach, mike rice, but nobody has yet answered any of the serious questions that his conduct raises. for instance, would rice still be employed, collecting almost three quarters of a million dollars on his contract had espn not obtained this video of his abusive techniques? and why in this day and age does a person in a position of authority, in charge of

impressionable young men, find it acceptable to use this kind of language? >> you [ bleep ] fairy, you're a [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. >> joining me now is my colleague and co-host of "the cycle" krystal ball. krystal, you yourself are a former division 1 athlete. you're a swimmer. there are few workplaces in the world where that kind of conduct would be allowed. so why did the rutgers athletic director think it was okay in december when he first learned about it? >> it's unbelievable. i mean, i think if he knew initially that the video would be made public, he would have made a very different decision. and that's really the standard that you have to hold yourself to. if the parents of these kids knew that this was what was going on, if the public knew that this was what was going on, how would they expect you and want you to behave? of course, it's obvious that someone using this sort of language and this sort of abusive techniques to try to apparently get the best out of his players, which i also

think -- >> physical violence, too. >> -- is absurd, physical violence with this kind of out of control anger which he showed on the court, by the way, as well. it wasn't a huge surprise. it was obvious this man needed to be fired. >> the new jersey star ledger says that there's a discrepancy between when the president of the university says he saw the video and when the athletic director says he showed it to him. do you think either of those individuals are tenable in their current positions any longer? >> i really think it's a huge violation of the trust, of all of the student athletes who are entrusted in rutgers' care. really of the whole student body that you would have a president and athletic director who wouldn't take this seriously until they knew that it was going to be made public. and there's other questions. you know, the only person who was really responsible here was the coach who was the whistle blower. he was removed from his position. now, we don't know exactly what circumstances are surrounding that. but there are questions there as well. >> we've seen nba and baseball stars fined for gay slurs and

this kind of language. why is the discussion we've seen in the nation about same-sex marriage and civil rights somehow not reached the locker rooms of these academic institutions? i thought that was a place of learning. >> it's a great question. i mean, there still is this tremendous homophobia within sports culture. and when i was a swimmer, and swimming is very different. you know, less of a macho culture certainly than football, basketball. but even then, i remember how some of my gay teammates struggled to be honest about their sexuality, to come out at that time. you look now in the nfl and the nba and pro hockey and pro baseball. there are no openly gay players. so they are very much behind the times. i do want to point out, though, there has been some progress. there's a group called athlete ally that really has been working to combat homophobia in sports. also we had 42 athletes who signed on to the front of a

court brief wanting to overturn prop 8. that's an encouraging sign. >> krystal ball, as ever, thank you. >> thanks, martin. >> we'll be right back. designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. because every flake is double-toasted... splashed with sweet honey... and covered in rich double-roasted peanuts. mmm. [ hero ] yummy. [ male announcer ] kellogg's crunchy nut. it's super delicious! there's a lot i had to do... watch my diet. stay active. start insulin... today, i learned there's something i don't have to do anymore. my doctor said that with novolog® flexpen, i don't have to use a syringe and a vial or carry a cooler. flexpen® comes prefilled with fast-acting insulin used to help control high blood sugar when you eat. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. no drawing from a vial. you should eat a meal

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it's time now to clear the air. and after the nra revealed its latest plan to curb gun violence in america, by training and arming teachers, it occurred to us that maybe on this occasion, they just didn't go far enough. because as we now know, there is only one solution to every act of gun violence in this country. >> the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> so in light of the nra's proposal, if teachers are going to walk around a school armed to the teeth, then why not the students themselves? after all, the nra has been aggressively marketing firearms to children as young as 10 as this video reveals, featuring middle school children firing at mannequins that then erupt with fake blood and bodily fluids. it really wouldn't be that tough

to sell. the children could collect their guns at the beginning of the school day to ensure that if anyone like adam lanza were to enter their classroom as he did at sandy hook elementary school, then the kids would be ready to respond. now, we're not suggesting that elementary school kids should be carrying around ar-15s. don't be ridiculous. we'd start them with .22s. saturday night specials perfect for their little hands. by middle school they could work their way up to barettas, maybe a glock. imagine the possibilities. going by the nra's logic, who would ever stop a fight in a school hallway? sure, you might land a punch but you'd end up getting a bullet in return. if this makes as much sense to you as it does to us, then why not contact the nra or your local bought and paid congressman and join the push for more guns everywhere for everyone. thank you for watching this afternoon. chris